Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has faced a lot of backlash this year from both users and advertisers over its lapses in data protection. And that backlash is wholly justified, following the revelation of management's mishandling of data shared with and used by Cambridge Analytica to target political adver

good investment stocks

CFRAs Ken Leon takes a look at investment banks that he thinks should benefit from increasing M&A activity.

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Leon writes that a favorable economy, in which companies and private equity firms have plenty of cash on hand, as well as a benign political climate will boost M&A activity in this year. Cross-border transactions, which made up more than a third of deals last year, should remain a driving force in the M&A space, he writes. While that activity was largely driven by acquisitive Chinese firms, he sees more deals between Europe and North America than Asia.

More detail from the note:

The first quarter of 2017 showed one of the highest levels of recorded announced transactions in the last decade, up mid-single digit year over year. In 2016, global M&A announced transactions were $3.7 trillion, down 16.1% versus 2015 according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Completed transactions were $3.2 trillion in 2016, down only 2.9% versus 2015. We believe the public equity market focuses more attention to announced deals to gauge the M&A market.

Anadarko Petroleum Co. (NYSE: APC) dropped about 1.3% Monday to post a new 52-week low of $44.93 after closing at $45.50 on Friday. The stock’s 52-week high is $77.33. Volume of about 3.5 million was about 30% below the daily average of 5.2 million. The company had no specific news.

[By Matthew DiLallo]

One of the largest projects is the Saddlehorn Pipeline, which Magellan is building with Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) and Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC). Both Plains All American Pipeline and Magellan own 40% of the project, which puts their total investment at $230 million apiece. They expect the project to be fully operational early next year, which is noteworthy given its robust first-year economics. Magellan estimates that it will earn eight times EBITDA on the capital deployed, or roughly $28.8 million in annual EBITDA apiece for Magellan and Plains All American Pipeline on their investment.

[By Brett Hershman]

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) said the company is sticking to its plan and will increase spending to stem regional declines, with its pace of growth acceleration still to be determined. The company also said it is still evaluating asset sales but is not currently looking to sell anything for the sake of selling.

[By Paul Ausick]

Anadarko Petroleum Co. (NYSE: APC) dropped about 2% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $44.03 after closing at $44.92 on Monday. The stock’s 52-week high is $77.33. Volume of about 6.4 million was about 30% above the daily average of 5.2 million. The company had no specific news.

A long term performance chart shows shares of Winnebago Industries and small cap peer Thor Industries, Inc (NYSE: THO) giving a similar performance with shares taking off last year before stumbling this year while Drew Industries, Inc (NYSE: DW) has mostly underperformed:

[By Dan Caplinger]

Recreational vehicles have hit a stretch of popularity that the industry hasn’t seen since the 1970s, and Thor Industries (NYSE:THO) has found itself in the right place at the right time. The RV specialist has made every effort it can to boost its growth to take advantage of favorable conditions, both by ramping up its existing internal operations and by looking for strategic combinations like its recent acquisition of industry peer Jayco. Coming into Monday’s fiscal second-quarter financial report, Thor investors were looking for very strong growth, and even though the company largely delivered on that front, some concerns about the pace of further gains throughout the rest of the fiscal year weighed on Thor stock after the report.

[By Dan Caplinger]

Finally, shares of Winnebago Industries dropped 6%. The maker of recreational vehicles has been under pressure ever since rival Thor Industries (NYSE:THO) reported its most recent quarterly results earlier this week, and Thor’s story led shareholders to sell off that stock. Yet although Winnebago is in the same business as Thor, some investors think that it could succeed where Thor failed, especially because the Winnebago brand name is much more valuable and has greater customer recognition that many of its competitors’ offerings. Winnebago will have its own chance to report its financial results later this month, and although many investors seem to be betting against the RV maker, others believe that Winnebago could easily make its competitive advantage against Thor and other manufacturers clear with a solid performance this quarter.

In his second “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer spoke with Bob Martin, president and CEO of Thor Industries (THO) , a stock that was crushed today, down 9.8%, on a penny-a-share earnings beat with tempered guidance.

We will admit that these latter assumptions are somewhat arbitrary, but nevertheless we cannot help escape the view that in 2017 everything will likely be at least a little adverse to prior expectations. On average our estimate reductions are 8%, and range from 3% at CIT Group (CIT) to 13% at Goldman Sachs. With that, we are lowering our PT of Bank of America,Citigroup andGoldman Sachs from $20, $70 and $243 to $18, $63 and $214, respectively…

[By Lisa Abramowicz]

There was this maturity wall that people were terrified of, said Neil Wessan, the group head of New York-based CIT Group Inc. (CIT)s capital markets unit. Thats been spread out over a much broader period of time.

The showstopper by far in the early going is Waymo’s self-driving minivan (pictured below) in partnership with Fiat Chrysler (FCAM) . Waymo’s ultimate mom-mobile, coming from a business that was spun-off from Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) last month, is equipped with self-driving sensors and vision systems.

CNO Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: CNO) dropped about 8.1% on Friday to post a new 52-week low of $14.29 against a 52-week high of $20.88. Volume of more than 6 million was more than 3 times the daily average of around 1.8 million. The stock closed at $15.55 on Thursday night. The company on Thursday cut its re-insurance agreements with Beechwood Re following disclosure that regulators that many of Beechwood’s assets did not comply with insurance company guidelines.

good investment stocks: Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.(EXPD)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Monica Gerson]

Benzinga's newsdesk monitors options activity to notice unusual patterns. These large volume (and often out of the money) trades were initially published intraday in Benzinga Professional . These trades were placed during Friday's regular session.

Like most shale drillers, Eagle Ford-focused Sanchez Energy's (NYSE:SN) stock got crushed when oil prices crashed, plunging a nauseating 87.5% from mid-2014 to the end of 2015. However, Sanchez Energy came roaring back in 2016, as a combination of rising

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has faced a lot of backlash this year from both users and advertisers over its lapses in data protection. And that backlash is wholly justified, following the revelation of management's mishandling of data shared with and used by Cambridge Analytica to target political adver

Oil prices have improved dramatically over the past year as OPEC's move to drain off the supply glut proved more successful than envisioned. That rising tide has lifted most oil stocks. However, that doesn't mean investors have missed the boat, since many oil stocks still have ample upside. Two

Tuesday was a down day for the stock market, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 400 points at one point during the session. Other major benchmarks saw more modest declines, with investors largely focusing on the latest new threats from the White House against Chinese trade. Broa